The examination hall was deathly silent, everyone holding their breath as if bracing for a bloody spectacle.
Including the three invigilators, all eyes were fixed on Tong Yang as she walked out of the classroom. The eerie creatures lurking by the corridor windows turned their stiff, wooden-like heads, their bloodstained weapons twitching in anticipation—as though they would lunge the moment she stepped beyond the exam room’s threshold.
Compared to the panic-stricken expressions of her classmates, Tong Yang moved with the calm of someone merely heading home after school, her steps unhurried, her breathing steady.
"She’s done for…"
Someone in the room muttered under their breath.
Though no one had yet figured out a solution, the collective instinct was to stall until the written exam’s final moments before leaving. Stepping out now would be like offering themselves as targets to those prowling outside.
As Tong Yang crossed the doorway, hearts leapt into throats. Yet, the mysterious figures by the windows only watched her with eerie stillness, making no move to attack.
Tong Yang, unsurprised, walked to the storage rack. She packed her exam materials into her bag, casually pulled out a hair tie, and tied her hair back as if no one else existed. Then, slinging her bag over her shoulder, she wrenched a loose metal rod from the rack, testing its weight in her hand.
"According to the rules, the hunt begins in three minutes." Her voice was soft, but the silence of the room and corridor carried her words to every ear.
The realization dawned on the others—this was why the monsters hadn’t struck yet. But confusion lingered: Why wasn’t she fleeing? Shouldn’t she be hiding?
Tong Yang scanned the room, then strode toward the nearest "hunter."
She knew full well this was no joke. People could—and would—die here, permanently losing their exam eligibility. Some might still cling to delusions of safety, and she needed to shatter those illusions.
This wasn’t a game, a movie, or some surreal dream.
The girl in the pristine school uniform raised the rusted metal rod and, without hesitation, swung it at the monster’s neck. The jagged edge sliced through flesh with a sickening thunk, blood spraying in an arc as the figure crumpled, its throat nearly severed. The heavy cleaver in its hand clattered to the floor.
"Ah—!"
A scream erupted in the exam hall. The students stared, petrified, their terror of Tong Yang now eclipsing even their fear of the hunters.
"Holy shit…" Chu Shiyu, seated in the front row, clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.
She’d always known Tong Yang wasn’t normal.
Wiping blood from her cheek, Tong Yang tossed the rod aside. "If you want to live, running isn’t enough. You have to fight back."
After all, Invigilator A had mentioned only one rule for this survival game: be eliminated, or last until the next exam. Fighting was clearly within the rules.
"Good luck."
With that, Tong Yang turned and left.
Her plan to profit off Chu Shiyu could wait. Survival came first. If they both made it out alive, they’d talk then.
Tong Yang entered the stairwell, descending swiftly to find a safe hiding spot.
Classrooms she passed stood empty, chairs and desks piled haphazardly by windows, rusted and decayed. Peeling walls bore patches of black mold, the air thick with neglect.
Reaching the first floor, she surveyed the scene: Third High School, vibrant that morning, now lay in ruins. Weeds choked the grounds, trees stood skeletal, buildings crumbling as though abandoned for decades.
"Parallel world? Or parallel time?" Tong Yang murmured, baffled.
Had they crossed into another dimension, or decades into the future?
The sky hung heavy with clouds, not a sliver of sunlight in sight. No birdsong, no whispers—just silence, as if the entire school held no life beyond those in Exam Hall 1209.
Three minutes weren’t long. Tong Yang didn’t linger to study her surroundings. She scaled the opposite building to the fourth floor—her old classroom. Prying open a shaky window, she broke off a chair leg, hammered rusted nails into one end, fashioning a makeshift spiked club.
Then, she picked the lock to the rooftop, barricaded the door from inside, and stacked tables against it to block both entry and view.
Only then did she exhale, crouching to observe Exam Hall 1209 from her vantage point.
The three minutes had passed. Four hunters fanned out in search of her, unaware of her perch. From this height, she could track their movements across the campus.
"Seems safe for now," she muttered.
If she could hold out here until the afternoon exam, all the better.
Still, she remained alert, watching the hall. No one else had left since her departure.
Time crawled. Her hiding spot stayed undiscovered; the exam hall remained still.
Tong Yang pulled her powered-off phone from her bag, switching it on. 11:07 AM—twenty-three minutes left in the exam.
The hunters, failing to find her, regrouped at the stairwells flanking Exam Hall 1209, lying in wait.
Then, Sun Ye rose from his seat by the window.
"Damn it." Tong Yang’s brow furrowed. "If he goes down now, he’ll run straight into them."
Sun Ye trembled as he stepped into the corridor, flinching at the pool of congealed blood. He grabbed his bag, picked up the rod Tong Yang had discarded, and with shaking hands, swung at the nearest hunter.
Unlike the others, he’d already died once. Tong Yang’s warnings had prepared him, however faintly.
But his strike lacked force. The rod bounced off the hunter’s shoulder, clattering loudly to the floor.
The sound echoed through the silent hallway.
Below, all four hunters snapped to attention, blades raised as they charged toward the third floor.
"Idiot!" Tong Yang cursed under her breath. The hunters stationed at the exam hall entrance couldn't move for three minutes, but the four hunters chasing after her could—if they caught up with Sun Ye, he'd be dead for sure!
Sun Ye had intended to mimic Tong Yang by taking down one of the hunters, but his nerves got the better of him. His swing lacked force, and the metal block slipped from his grasp, clattering loudly to the ground. At the same moment, hurried footsteps echoed from the left stairwell, as if someone was closing in fast.
Sun Ye froze for a second, bending to pick up the metal block, when a voice snapped from behind him: "What are you standing around for? Run!"
Dazed, Sun Ye turned and saw Tong Yang waving at him from the rooftop of the opposite building.
Just then, a figure burst from the left stairwell, eyes wide and axe raised, charging straight for him.
"Right! Go upstairs!" Tong Yang's voice rang across the campus. Sun Ye snapped out of his daze and bolted, shoving past the stunned crowd toward the right stairwell.
The other examinees stared out the window, bewildered, as Sun Ye sprinted past them in terror. Three seconds later, a man wielding an axe stormed into view, hot on his heels.
From her vantage point, Tong Yang had a clear view of the opposite building. All four active hunters were now chasing Sun Ye, which meant she was temporarily safe.
"Go to the fifth floor, then take the left stairwell down!"
The hunter who had come up the left side had veered into the right stairwell, colliding with the other three. If Sun Ye could shake them off and reach the left stairwell first, he could escape the building.
Watching Sun Ye flee for his life, the other examinees paled, too scared to leave the classroom. But time was running out—if they didn't move soon, the remaining hunters would swarm out en masse. And in their current defenseless state, running into those monsters would be a death sentence.
Sun Ye might not have been much, but he was fast—probably fueled by sheer panic. Tong Yang could barely track his blur as he raced ahead, leaving the axe-wielding hunters far behind. By the time he made it out of the building, they were still stumbling down the third-floor stairs.
"Tong Yang, save me!!!"
Sun Ye's screams echoed as he sprinted, somehow leading all four hunters straight to Tong Yang's building.
Gritting her teeth, Tong Yang shouted, "Don't come here! Go somewhere else!"
"I'm scared!!!"
"You're running like hell—what's there to be scared of?!"
"I'm scared!!! Help me!!!"
"Lure them away! I need to get the others out first!"
"Ahhh!!! Save me!!!"
The three-minute mark hit, and five or six more hunters stormed out of the exam hall, joining the chase after Sun Ye.
At least the idiot was making enough noise to keep them all on his tail, leaving the area around Exam Hall 1209 clear of active monsters.
"Remember what I told you? If you want to live, you can't just run—you have to fight back."
Tong Yang stood on the rooftop, addressing the students in Exam Hall 1209.
"By the rules, the hunters can't attack until three minutes after you leave the classroom. That means you have three minutes to escape."
"But if you just run, the remaining monsters will hunt you down after those three minutes. However, if all thirty-one of you leave at once, the hunters in the hallway won’t be able to act immediately. If you can incapacitate them—or better yet, kill them—you’ll be safe until the next exam."
The school was so quiet that Tong Yang's voice carried clearly to everyone.
But these were people who had never even killed a fish, let alone a person. They couldn’t possibly act as ruthlessly as Tong Yang, striking without hesitation.
"The exam ends in fifteen minutes. Time’s running out."
Was it their imagination, or did Tong Yang sound almost relaxed?
The examinees exchanged uneasy glances. None of them had ever faced anything like this, and fear left them paralyzed.
But they had no other choice. Sitting around meant certain death—might as well take Tong Yang’s advice and fight.
They steeled themselves, drawing shaky breaths.
Alone, none of them would dare confront those monsters. But with thirty-one of them together, strength in numbers made the idea less terrifying.
Let’s do it! Let’s take them down before the three minutes are up!
"Oh, and since I came up with this plan, everyone who uses it owes me two hundred bucks afterward. Any objections?"
The examinees: "..."
Who the hell cared about money when their lives were on the line?
"Ahhh!!!"
Sun Ye’s terrified shrieks erupted from downstairs.
"Sis Tong, save me!! I don’t object!!!"
